Swaggart Pays Traffic Fine, Avoids Appearance in Court

INDIO — Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart has paid a $205.50 traffic fine and will avoid a court appearance for weaving along a road in his Jaguar with a local prostitute.

The preacher's personal check arrived in the mail Friday, an Indio Municipal Court official said. Swaggart was scheduled for a Nov. 15 court appearance on charges of driving on the wrong side of the road, driving an unregistered vehicle and failing to wear a seat belt.

Police stopped Swaggart when his car swerved onto the wrong side of the road on Oct. 11 in this desert town, 100 miles east of Los Angeles. His companion told reporters that she is a prostitute and that Swaggart weaved when he tried to stuff some pornographic magazines under a car seat.

Swaggart since has resigned from the board of his Jimmy Swaggart Ministries and is on leave from the pulpit.